The Use of Blood and Derived Products As Food Additives
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13 The Use of Blood and Derived Products as Food Additives Jack Appiah Ofori and Yun-Hwa Peggy Hsieh Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences, 420 Sandels Building Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida USA 1. Introduction Blood is a rich source of iron and proteins of high nutritional and functional quality. Because of the high protein content of blood, generally about 18% [1], it is sometimes referred to as “liquid protein” [2]. It has been estimated that the approximately 1,500,000 tons of porcine blood produced yearly in China has a protein content equivalent to that of 2,000,000 tons of meat or 2,500,000 tons of eggs [3]. Thus, a valuable protein source is lost if animal blood is discarded as waste and this is compounded by the resulting serious environmental pollution problems. Many countries require that animal blood be disposed off in an environmentally friendly manner, which is a capital intensive process. Accordingly, to eliminate a sizeable pollution hazard and prevent the loss of a valuable protein source, efforts have been made to ensure the utilization of animal blood on a massive scale. A further incentive is the increased profits to be made through adding value to the blood. The environmental, nutritional and economic benefits derived from the maximal utilization of animal blood, coupled with recent advances in blood collection and processing techniques, have led to a myriad of blood protein ingredients becoming available for use in foods and dietary supplements to serve specific needs (Table 1). By 2001, it was estimated that the food industry was utilizing 30% of the blood produced in slaughterhouses [4]. Current utilization likely surpasses this figure, though there is no data to confirm this. Plasma, the liquid portion of blood remaining after the blood cells [white blood cells (WBCs), red blood cells (RBCs), and platelets] have been removed, is most widely used in the food industry because it is neutral in taste and devoid of the dark color associated with the red blood cells (and hence whole blood) [5]. The traditional use of whole blood and its separated red blood cells as ingredients in food products is generally restricted to such products as blood sausages where the black color is both expected and acceptable [2]. The cellular portion of blood (and for that matter whole blood) has not enjoyed widespread usage in the food industry as a result of its heme component, which imparts an undesirable color, odor and metallic taste to the final product [6,7]. Even in trace quantities hemoglobin imparts a dark-brown color to foods [8]. Their use is also restricted because the cellular fraction is thought to have a higher microbial load, although this has been disproved [9]. The amount of cellular fraction-derived products used in food has traditionally been limited to 0.5 to 2% of the product in order not to jeopardize the sensory qualities of the final www.intechopen.com supplements in protein of blood-derived Examples Table 1. 230 www.intechopen.com Product Company Source of blood Description Usage Fibrimex® Sonac BV, Netherlands Porcine or bovine Thrombin and fibrinogen Cold set binder for meat protein isolate products Plasma Powder FG Sonac BV, Netherlands Porcine or bovine Plasma with increased Cold set binder for meat fibrinogen concentration products Harimix (C, P or P+) Sonac BV, Netherlands Porcine or bovine Stabilized hemoglobin Coloring for meat products Hemoglobin Sonac BV, Netherlands Porcine or bovine Frozen or powder Natural coloring for meat hemoglobin products PP Sonac BV, Netherlands Porcine or bovine Frozen or powder plasma Heat set binder for meat products Prolican 70 Lican Functional Protein Bovine Spray-dried bovine plasma Emulsifier, gelling and Source, Chile concentrate binding agent in meat-based products, fish-based products, pasta and bakery products Prietin Lican Functional Protein Porcine Spray-dried porcine whole Emulsifier, gelling, binding Source, Chile blood and coloring agent in blood gredients used as food additives and dietary dietary and as food additives gredients used sausages, cured meats and pates Myored Lican Functional Protein Porcine or bovine Natural colorant obtained Enhance meat color and Source, Chile from the red pigments of increase contrast between fat blood and meat ImmunoLin® Proliant, USA Bovine Bovine serum concentrate Immune system supplement B7301 Proliant, USA Bovine Spray-dried bovine red blood Enhance color and iron cells supplementation for meat products AproRed Proliant, USA Porcine Stabilized hemoglobin Coloring for meat products Aprofer 1000® APC Europe, Spain Porcine or bovine Heme iron polypeptide Iron supplementation Proferrin® Colorado Biolabs Inc., Bovine Heme iron polypeptide Iron supplementation USA Vepro 95 HV Veos NV, Belgium Bovine Globin (hemoglobin with the Emulsifier in meat products Food Additive heme group removed) Plasma Veos NV, Belgium Bovine or porcine Liquid, powder, frozen or Gelling and binding agent in flaked plasma meat products The Use of Blood and Derived Products as Food Additives 231 product [10]. This notwithstanding, recent efforts have focused on improving the utility of the cellular fraction in food proteins by removing the heme component using various techniques [6, 11-16] to produce an off-white product known in the food industry as globin or decolorized blood. Many of these treatments, however, are either not cost-effective, impart a salty or bitter taste to the globin recovered [17], or are only partially successful in alleviating the dark color associated with the heme component [8]. Thus, further processing methods continue to be devised to produce globin that lacks the bitter taste and has a whiter appearance. One such method involves treating RBCs recovered from blood with papain to release the heme, followed by further treatment with a bleaching agent, sodium hypochlorite. The isolated globin is almost tasteless with a white color [17]. Despite the technical successes achieved, animal blood proteins remain underutilized, largely due to consumer concerns. This paper reviews some of the specific uses of blood proteins in both the meat and non-meat industries and discusses the consumer issues hindering its maximal utilization. 2. Meat industry The meat industry uses the bulk of the blood proteins employed as ingredients in the food industry, mainly as a binder but also as natural color enhancers, emulsifiers, fat replacers and meat curing agents. These will be discussed in turn below. However, some limited usages, for example as biodegradable natural casings for sausage products, will not be considered as such blood-based films have a relatively high solubility which may limit their application [18]. 2.1 Binder Binders have traditionally been used in meat products to counter the textural and sensorial changes brought about by processing. In addition to absorbing the moisture that is released from meat during thermal processing, they are used to bind water and fat to stabilize meat emulsions in ground meat products [19]. The development of comminuted or emulsion type meat systems that incorporate binders allows more efficient utilization of tough meat from spent animals. The partial replacement of meat with binders reduces product costs while improving, or at least maintaining, the nutritional and organoleptic qualities of the final product [20]. Binders have a macromolecular structure that has the capacity to form matrices that retain aroma and nutrients and also entrap large amounts of water in such a manner that exudation is prevented [21]. They are also used in the restructuring of meat, which is geared towards the transformation of lower value cuts and quality trimmings into consumer-ready products of higher value that resemble intact muscles such as steaks, chops or roasts. Meat restructuring is also driven by increasing consumer demand for exact portions in commercial meat and fish products. Blood plasma and isolated blood proteins are both used as binders in the meat industry. Plasma functions as a binder in meat systems due to its ability to form gels upon heating, while the performances of plasma proteins are comparable, if not superior, to other binders. In terms of binding properties, blood plasma may be an alternative to the egg albumen traditionally used in the food industry for binding purposes [22], and remains the standard by which to judge other binders. Interestingly, plasma powders have been reported to be www.intechopen.com 232 Food Additive less effective than egg white powder, though still better than other binders (meat powders, gelatin, wheat gluten, isolated soy protein, and a combination of sodium alginate and calcium carbonate [23]). However, this study pointed out that the superiority of egg white powder as a binder over plasma powder was based solely on muscle to muscle binding; accurate muscle food product binding should consider not only muscle-to-muscle binding but also muscle-to-fat and fat-to-fat binding and plasma powders exhibited higher muscle to fat and fat to fat binding compared to egg white powder [23]. At acid pH, plasma produces soft and exuding gels and so is not effective as a gelling agent or capable of water retention in products with a low pH such as fermented products, as these functional properties are strongly affected by changes in the protein structure brought about by the acidic environment [24]. Subjecting porcine plasma to simultaneous treatment with microbial transglutaminase and high hydrostatic pressure has been shown to improve the gelling properties of porcine plasma under acidic conditions [25]. Besides their excellent functionality as binders, the utilization of blood proteins in the preparation of restructured meats offers a number of health and industry benefits. In the past, preparation of restructured muscle products required tumbling meat pieces with salt to extract soluble protein for meat binding. This tumbling action, however, damages the texture of the product and the use of salt is also a concern for consumers who are aware of the link between the sodium content of food and the increased risk of cardiovascular and bone disease [26, 27].